In the parent application Serial No. 578,805 cited above, an apparatus is disclosed for the shock mounting of piston rods in internal combustion engines of one or more pistons and cylinders in power-conveying relationship with a crankshaft. As disclosed therein, an eccentrically-mounted member such as a pair of discs, transversely mounted on a crankshaft, carries a bearing member having a curved periphery that is positioned to be in sliding contact with a bearing shoe on the end of the piston rod, or other power-transmitting connection means with the piston.
Accordingly, and in a manner similar in certain limited aspects to the structure of Dasset U.S. patent No. 2,006,498, the reciprocating piston rod slides against the bearing member and other structure carried by the eccentrically-mounted member, forcing the crankshaft to rotate, exerting torque on the crankshaft through the eccentrically-mounted member.
The eccentrically-mounted member and bearing member are retained in a cage structure which is carried by the piston rod, in sliding relation thereto, to facilitate the transmission of power from the piston and piston rod to the crankshaft.
Upon the generation of shock through knocking or the like, a large portion of the shock can be dissipated without subjecting the crankshaft to its full force, since the bearing member against which the piston rod slidingly presses during the power stroke of the engine cycle is inwardly displaceable toward the center of rotation of the crankshaft, but is biased outwardly toward its radially outwardmost, position, so that energy is absorbed as the bearing member is displaced inwardly by the piston rod.
Accordingly, since the damaging effects of engine knock are reduced by the use of the bearing member, higher compression levels can be utilized in the engine for greater efficiency, utilizing lower octane fuel with reduced levels of lead fuel additives and the like.
Also, in engines utilizing the invention of the parent application Ser. No. 578,805, the ignition spark in the cylinders may be advanced to or before the top dead center position at low engine speeds, rather than its usual position of about 30.degree. after top dead center position, for greater engine efficiency, since the danger of damage to the engine from preignition or knocking is greatly reduced.
Furthermore, engines utilizing the aforesaid invention can operate at fewer revolutions per minute without the danger of bad effects from knocking or "lugging," which is the laboring of an engine operating at an undesirably low speed under too heavy a load or too high a gear ratio.
Likewise, it is believed that the aforesaid invention can be utilized to reduce both hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions: the hydrocarbon emissions because an earlier ignition spark in the engine cycle and a lower engine speed will tend to lengthen the burning time and thus reduce the amount of unburned hydrocarbons; the nitrogen oxide emissions because at the time of maximum compression immediately after the ignition of a spark in the engine cycle, when the piston and piston rod are able to displace the bearing member of this invention, the cylinder chamber volume is quickly increased, with the consequent reduction in the temperature of the gases in the cylinder.
The invention of this present application constitutes an improvement upon the invention of the parent application Ser. No. 578,805, providing means for obtaining the advantages of the previous invention in a smaller, simpler structure, in which, unlike the disclosure of the parent application, the eccentric members do not move from side to side as they rotate, but reciprocate in a linear manner upwardly and downwardly, following the linear reciprocating motion of the piston rod.
Other improvements and advantages of the invention of this application will be apparent from the description below.